The Village of Bridgeport has been placed in a state of fiscal emergency by Ohio Auditor of State Dave Yost after the village defaulted on outstanding debts.
State officials found that the Belmont County village did not make semi-annual payments on loans from state agencies, which totaled over $90,000.
There are six criteria from which a village can be placed in fiscal emergency, and they are as follows:
- Default on a debt obligation;
- Failure to make payment of all payroll;
- An increase in the minimum levy of the village which results in the reduction in the minimum levy of another subdivision;
- Significant past due accounts payable;
- Substantial deficit balances in village funds; and
- A sizeable deficiency when the village’s treasury balance is compared to the positive cash balances of the village’s funds.
This is not the first bout with financial trouble the village has seen this year. In May, the village’s incomplete financial records and bank reconciliations caused Auditor Yost to label the village as “unauditable.”
Although the village falls under the first criterium, Yost says that it was impossible to determine whether or not it met three others that would signal a fiscal emergency.
“These records are in such disarray that it’s impossible to fully evaluate the village’s financial standing,” Auditor Yost said. “This declaration of fiscal emergency will provide Bridgeport officials with much-needed resources and will be the kick-start to help them get their finances in the right direction.”
Bridgeport’s finances will be overseen by a financial planning and supervision commission. The commisison must have a plan within its first 120 days of its first meeting to eliminate the fiscal emergency conditions. Auditor Yost will serve as the commission’s “financial supervisor.”